Smith-McDowell House Museum

Online

Capacities

Address

Phone

Explore opulent period rooms, history exhibits and grounds designed by the renowned Olmsted Brothers. The first floor is wheelchair-accessible.

The 4-story mansion was built on a plantation south of Asheville approximately 20 years before the Civil War. Constructed on a hill’s summit, ringed by picturesque mountains, the manse was constructed by slave labor. During a time when most people lived in log cabins, the imposing structure was composed of rare brick. Slave labor was probably used to construct the impressive home. Today known as The Smith-McDowell House, it is the oldest surviving house in Asheville and the oldest brick house in Buncombe County.

On the eve of the Civil War, W.W. McDowell organized the Buncombe Riflemen, the first group of Confederate volunteers from Western North Carolina. During the course of the War, the house was visited by Union troops.